Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The budget, despite its promises of tax cuts, increased welfare payments and infrastructural projects, continues the trend of wasteful spending. The Government has been criticised for the runaway cost of projects like the new children’s hospital, which is old at this stage, the hut outside Government Buildings, which cost €1.4 million, and a bike stand that cost €336,000. Now, €9 million has been allocated for mobile phone pouches for schoolchildren, a decision that has raised eyebrows as another example of the reckless nature of this Government’s spending. It is outrageous. For a nation that struggled to balance the books after the Celtic tiger’s collapse, this fiscal largesse feels surreal and reckless.

The current budget, reminiscent of the boom-and-bust spending of the Celtic tiger era, is seen as a squandered opportunity. The Government’s failure to support the 305,000 small and medium-sized businesses, particularly in the struggling tourism and hospitality sectors, is glaring. These sectors continue to bear the burden of the highest VAT rate in Europe, leading to business closures. We have been told as much. The sectors lobbied the Government and believed it would listen, but it is not listening to anyone. It is in a bubble and does not care what it does with people’s money. These sectors also have the highest energy costs in Europe. How is that the case? They also have to deal with the minimum wage increase and the so-called auto-enrolment pension scheme, representing more expenses for people already trying to do so much paperwork.

The Minister for Finance, Deputy Jack Chambers, has touted the budget’s €10.5 billion in tax and spending measures as a saviour for households and businesses. In reality, actual new spending and tax measures across 2024 and 2025 will amount to €18 billion, with multi-year commitments inflating the total to €33 billion. Imagine the trick-of-the-loop job he is doing. This spending spree is unprecedented and underpinned by volatile corporation tax receipts, creating a mirage of a surplus. Without these windfalls, Ireland’s surplus of €23.7 billion would evaporate into €6.3 billion. This could happen any day, particularly with such volatile times in the Middle East and elsewhere. We have to be very careful, yet this budget’s recklessness is unbelievable. The fiscal house of cards is vulnerable to the next global economic downturn.

The budget includes some positive measures, for example, a reduction in the USC. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael promised in their manifestos at the previous two elections to abolish it, but they have not taken a euro off it. Had they abolished it, they might have put some money back into the pockets of hard-pressed low-income earners and ordinary workers, but they do not care about them. They just care about the fat cats, big business and the conglomerates.

The overall approach is seen as fiscally irresponsible. The Government’s reckless spending and lack of strategic planning threaten to repeat the mistakes of the past, leaving Ireland teetering on the edge of another economic crisis. The Government has even breached its own spending limit of 5%, bringing it to 6.9%. It is reckless in the extreme to do this just to buy votes at an election, but the electorate are clever and astute. Catch me once and it is your fault, but catch me twice and it is my fault. The electorate will be waiting in the long grass for the Government because they have something to tell it.

Deputy Naughten discussed the reckless energy policy. He mentioned the likes of T. K. Whitaker and other visionaries in the early decades of the State. Now, we are just wasting resources. There has been the stark revelation that €1.8 billion worth of excess wind energy has been wasted over the past seven years. This alarming figure, presented to the Department of Finance by EnergyCloud, a not-for-profit energy waste company that is not an NGO, underscores the Government’s significant strategic failure. Despite being awash with cash, the Government has failed to invest, plan and manage the national energy grid, effectively leading to colossal waste. The lights could go out at any time and the diesel generators the Government bought will not be able to keep them on. The inability of Ireland’s electricity system to accommodate surplus wind energy has resulted in electricity potentially worth hundreds of millions of euro being wasted annually. The Green Party talks about cutting our cloth and saving energy. This is shocking, especially for the Green Party. The Acting Chair is a Green, as is the Minister of State. What are they doing in government? The tail wags the dog in many respects, but the Greens do not even seem to be rubbing the dog in this case. It is abject and shocking waste. The energy paid for through capacity contracts with the State represents a missed opportunity for sustainable energy utilisation. The volume of wasted energy has surged from 276 GWh in 2017, valued at €92 million, to 1.124 TWh in 2023, worth €375 million. In the name of God and his blessed mother, what is going on? The lunatics are definitely running the asylum. No one is in charge. It is all about the Government spending and trying to buy its way out of this disaster. In the first half of 2023 alone, 506 GWh of wind energy, valued at €168 million, was dispatched due to the grid’s limitation. Since 2017, a staggering 6.261 TWh of wind energy, with a retail value of €1.84 billion, has been wasted. Mr. John Mullins, chair of EnergyCloud, emphasised in a pre-budget submission the Government’s lack of strategic planning. This not only represents a failure of energy policy, but also contributes to higher energy costs for ordinary households that are struggling. I appeal to the Minister of State. His party was meant to enact change in government and encourage everyone to go green. The Acting Chair told me that he had got rid of his cargo bike – he probably upgraded it – that he was going to give me a ride on up Monamraher on the bog.

Regarding scoliosis, the Taoiseach said today that the Government was doing its best, but it is not, as the minions in government are not carrying out the work and the special money the Government gave for scoliosis went missing. Mental health services are an abysmal failure. Money is thrown at the problem but there is a lack of joined-up thinking and spaces. Look at what is going on in UHL.

Then there are agencies like Tusla. On 19 September, the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. Seamus McCarthy, told the public accounts committee that non-compliance by Tusla in the procurement of goods and services amounted to €4.8 million, but the Government has given Tusla a healthy increase in funding in the budget despite the fact it does not run women’s refuges anymore. This NGO is totally out of control and devastating families and seems to be immune to prosecution. That is €4.8 million-----

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